New beekeeping with AZDuffman

Quote: AZDuffman

I can promise they did not take out a contract on you. There must have been a source of light near the door.

Yes it is a sliding glass patio door that leads to our living room where the boob tube was on late into the night. Do you think they flew through the dark toward the light? How do you know they don't have a contract out? I can't be sure you aren't working with them. lol

They are still huddling against a pillar and it has started to rain a bit. I kind of feel sorry for them, but they just can't stay here. I don't mess with them when they are working, I skim some out and release the ones that get stuck in the pool, I respect them, but I can't do the venom.

I also read once that someone who is allergic to bee venom is probably allergic to snake bite as well. I talked to a miner the other day and because of so much rain this year [almost 4 inches already] the snakes are out thick. He had six in his mine camp and one sidewinder. By snakes I meant rattlers, there are plenty of harmless snakes as well. Lots of scorpions out already also. Those sidewinders are crazy fast.

A local article said the hive wouldn't become to protective until they had the nest established and had something to defend. IDK I have seen several articles singing praises about how great it is to have bees making a comeback, and not to worry about them being "killer bees", respect them they will respect you, yada yada. Investigative journalism, my rear.

Quote: petroglyph

Yes it is a sliding glass patio door that leads to our living room where the boob tube was on late into the night. Do you think they flew through the dark toward the light? How do you know they don't have a contract out? I can't be sure you aren't working with them. lol

I would be positive they went for the light.

Quote: AZDuffman

I would be positive they went for the light.

Sounds good, thanks.

Quote: petroglyph

Sounds good, thanks.

Let me expand on this as I wrote the one-line waiting for my dinner order to arrive.

Basically all insects will be attracted to the light. Got a fly in a dark room driving you nuts? Open a window or door where there is a light outside. Termite swarms head to light. Wasps also. On that one I was doing a favor for my buddy his sister had some kind of wasps. I'm doing my thing and she has the normal housewife "how we going to get rid of them" thing. I show her, I open the window and do some kind of spraying. They get agitated and fly mostly all right out. She looks at me like I am some kind of genius.

Another time I was newer on the job with a guy who could be a good salesman but was also a loudmouth know-it-all who never backed up a promise if he would be on the short side of it. You know the type, 35 years old, 17 year old mentality. Anyhow, we have a housewife so afraid of the wasps she is on the cul-de-sac island ACROSS THE STREET while we we were inside. So they are tricky, but instead of being careful he just blasts the nest. Runs out the door and we can hear them hitting the light bulb. That is how attracted to light they were. I ended up fixing that one, the guy by now is probably working at the last car dealer who will hire him as a salesman.

Quote: AZDuffman

Basically all insects will be attracted to the light. Got a fly in a dark room driving you nuts? Open a window or door where there is a light outside. Termite swarms head to light. Wasps also.

What do they do, fly around at night looking for light? I thought they would have zilch for night vision because they all seem to go to bed at dusk.

That's why I tried to ninja them about 8;30 last night figuring they would all be sleeping. They are still huddled in mass around my cement post in a layer about 3 inches deep and a foot and a half square.

Now there are a few fresh ones buzzing the little hole they were attracted to 2 days ago. Once they get africanized they are smaller than the Euro ones, but as you know they can be vicious.

Quote: petroglyph

What do they do, fly around at night looking for light? I thought they would have zilch for night vision because they all seem to go to bed at dusk.

They hang in the hive at night. But you destroyed the hive. Hive is totally dark, BTW, so when they leave they go to light.

I've heard they get confused since they navigate by the moon but this seems absurd.

"It's the end of the world! Go towards the light!"

Probably what they screamed. You know, when you die you head towards the light.

Bees put out all kinds of pheromones. There's an alarm pheromone when they begin stinging. Even if they didn't sting Petro, if they landed on something while some followed him, the sting activates the pheromone which will bring other bees to come sting whatever is around. Might of just stung something random when he wasn't there.

Quote: rxwine

Bees put out all kinds of pheromones. There's an alarm pheromone when they begin stinging. Even if they didn't sting Petro, if they landed on something while some followed him, the sting activates the pheromone which will bring other bees to come sting whatever is around. Might of just stung something random when he wasn't there.

The hive is about 20 feet from our bird feeder. I like most of the birds but the pigeons are pigs. I have to bribe them by scattering seed on the ground, so they don't takeover every inch of the feeder and run the songbirds away.

So, I slipped out by the feeder and threw out a cup of seed on the ground, hoping for a win win. Seems like they got along fine. I went out a couple hours ago and sprayed the swarm that was still clinging to the cement pillar.

We also have several rabbits that live here and wondered if they would get stung? Didn't seem to. I read today that there have been 16 deaths in the last umpteen years do to the bees, here in Az. That seems like a lousy way to go to me.

That pheromone thing is what I thought this morning when there were over 20 of them dead at my door? Wondering if there was a multi-state hit out on me, put out by the bees?